because days like today are worthy of documenting

I'm having a great day... went to the park with hubby, jack and the Hodges and some of the Chapmans, some dear old friends that we haven't seen in years. Sat outside in the warm sunshine while doing my Bible study. Discovered that we didn't owe a $900 bill we thought we did (praise God!). I introduced a new chore chart to Jackson and he is THRILLED and jumping at the chance to help out. He's been doing some chores for over a year now, but I'm stepping it up a bit [READ: the baby is coming and I'll take the extra help!].

The guys are both napping (the usual for one and rare for the other - can you guess??). I'm having some wonderful 'me time' and ignoring the laundry pile, for now. And, I'm looking forward to a date night with my man tonight. I'm thinking coffee and Kilwins... we'll see.

Our beloved kitty has been giving us a scare. For the last 4 days she refused to eat and drank little, but would meow at me like crazy to feed her anytime I was near the kitchen. She is very picky (true to being a windley) and it seems it was just cat food I had bought - which happened to be the EXACT kind she normally loves. Our friend Dana, the veterinarian, suggested we get a new bag and maybe some wet food to entice her, and if she still refused, to take her to get looked at. Sure enough, we opened the new bag of food and she ate. Hopefully, that was all it took.

My 'Heels are looking great, and playing better than they have in weeks. They made it to the Final Four and are just 2 victories away from taking the title. :) I'm in 3 different bracket challenges. I'm leading in 2 (bridge & isaacs family) and 3rd place in Boomama's bracket challenge that has 180+ people. Whoohoo! I'll try not to rub it in too much to all the guys!

A few updates for ya:

The Walters will be in Russia longer than expected. The judge granted them the adoption (yay yay yay!), but did not waive the 10 day waiting period. So, they are hanging out in Moscow in the meantime. Please keep them in your prayers!

Kelli is now in France with her 30 students and 4 chaperones. Did I mention she organized the entire stinkin' trip? She is Wonder Woman! Anyway, she's documenting her travels here for those of you who are like me and daydream of perusing the La Louvre with fromage and baguette in hand.

thought you'd like to know...

1. Doc says sunless tanning cream is perfectly fine during pregnancy. Evidently they changed their stance since I was pregnant with my son. Whoohoo! No more blinding people!

2. Miss Sweet Tooth has re-discovered Nutella. There are a million ways to enjoy this delightful chocolaty hazelnut spread. I love it in a crepe with strawberries. The most common way it is consumed around here, though, is on a spoon straight from the container. Mmmmm....

3. What is more painful than stepping on small legos with bare feet?? Small plastic dinosaurs with tiny plastic spikes. Yeow!

4. New celeb Anoop Desai from American Idol found local fame here in the Raleigh area years before crooning for Simon. Check out the story here. I'm sure he's mortified at some of the pics.

pray for the walters

During staff meeting today we skyped with Tim and Anna in Russia! They left Raleigh on Monday and arrived in Moscow safely. So far, there have been many answers to prayers - they went through customs without a hitch. The medical tests and psych exams were passed (we were shocked to hear that about tim! :) ). There was some original paperwork that their agency was to have sent that was missing - and they almost sent them right back home. But, during staff meeting they skyped again to tell us that the paperwork had been found. Praise God! From Moscow they had a 13 hour train ride, which was rough. They are a bit sleep deprived. Currently, they are waiting for a call to see if they can go visit the children this evening. I can't imagine how anxious they are!

Please keep them in your prayers! The court case is in a few days. Please pray that all will continue to go smoothly, that they will have a great connection with Ben and Paige, and that the 10 day waiting period will be waived. And, pray for Ty as he waits at home with grandparents and family.

not so manic mondays

I realize I am most likely in the minority with this, but I'm going to go ahead and say it. I really like Mondays. Mostly because hubby either takes part or all of the day off. Our weekends are typically so packed that Mondays are the breather day for us. I use Mondays to plan my week's activities, menu planning, and general catch-up. And, something about me just loves a To Do List, especially with 1/2 of the items checked off by noon.

We had a wonderful and productive weekend with my family. My folks just recently remodeled their kitchen and we benefited by this by being the new owners of their old oven and microwave. It's one of those fancy-smancy ceramic cooktops. And, we mounted the microwave so now I have more counter space than I know what to do with. I can now roll out homemade biscuits with plenty or room. (that is, if I actually were to ever make homemade biscuits.) I broke in the new appliances quickly thereafter and we ate well all weekend long. Too well.

[which reminds me....hey, does anyone want an oven or microwave? I'm willing to sell them pretty cheaply...]

While Dad and Mike worked on mounting the new (to us) microwave, mom and I found fabric and she made the drapes for baby girl's room. One more thing to check off the ginormous list. Saturday was devoted to consignment shopping. Oh, and shop we did. Mom was a great help, and my little man is almost set for the spring & summer. Baby girl got a few items too. After 5 hours at it, we came home and crashed like nobodies business.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to basketball watching and shaking my head at my bracket picks. Thankfully the 'Heels have survived so far. Jackson spent the majority of the time insisting that someone to read him the new dinosaur book Mimi and Granddaddy Pete brought him and playing hours and hours with his toy dinosaurs. I seriously think my dad has the entire book memorized in just 3 days.

let the festivities begin

It's going to be a fun week here in our homestead. March Madness has arrived in it's fullest. It is bracketology time. That's NCAA basketball tournament lingo for those of you unfortunate enough to not follow it. :) I'll be creating a Bridge Bracket Challenge later today, so if you want to join it, let me know. Just for funzies and bragging rights - no cashola involved.

My parents will come in town on Thursday for a weekend visit. I've forewarned mom that I am putting her to work. :) We are making window treatments for the nursery. And, by we I mean she will be doing the sewing and I'll be picking the fabric. Then, I will be subjecting her to her first ever huge children's consignment sale on Saturday. Oh the deals to be found! I'm working on our game plan - making a list of what we need, what areas to go to first, how to put her to work the most effectively. Sounds crazy, I know, but it can be very rewarding!


Also, did you know that someone has a birthday on Wednesday???

Fun with Kels

I had the chance to catch up with my buddy Kelli this past weekend. I love hanging out with her... we always do the things we love best - play cards, drink coffee, shop, and have great conversations. She and I share a love for keeping up with the news and politics, as well as good spiritual debates. And, she and I match up perfectly when shopping... we don't mess around. We hunt the deals and are in and out of shops in no time! She leaves for France in 2 weeks where she, and 4 other brave chaperones, are taking 30 students for Spring Break. You can follow her excursion on her blog here. I'll be living vicariously through her for that week. One day I'll make it to France myself. *sigh*

The only negative is that she introduced hubby to some new game on facebook. He took advantage of a nasty rainy weekend by playing this game for hours and hours. Thanks a lot, kels.

because I know you have all been sitting around waiting to hear what I've been up to...

So how has your March been? Mine has been full of activity. And, void of blogging. Did you miss me?

March began here with 2-3 inches of snow. My hubby and son enjoyed it immensely while I ventured out only briefly to photograph the occasion. My ski pants no longer fit and I've had some back issues, so playing out in the snow this time was not to be. Plus, my balance is a little off and falling would not be a good thing.

The end of last week through now has been quite warm (70's and low 80's) and sunny. I refuse to run the AC yet, but you can bet that the fans have been full speed and the windows open. Jackson and I have pink faces from playing outside. We've been out with friends everyday at the playground, or kite flying in the backyard.

I discovered this weekend that this warm weather was going to be problematic on many levels... First, it means I have to shave more often. Which is getting increasingly more difficult. I really do hate shaving. In college, a friend who will remain anonymous (NOT ME!) also hated shaving and decided not to shave the entire winter - which is long in the NC mountains. She showed me her legs on multiple occasions. There are no words for the grossness! She finally had to 'give-in' when she signed up for a swimming class. Thankfully, she didn't take those hairy beasts to the pool!

Wow, I digress.

Second, I have not painted my toe nails in oh, 5 months or more. I realized this on my way out the door to church when I threw on some open toe shoes. I rushed to paint them. This also is a difficult reach and the paint job is ridiculous! And thirdly, my legs are that eery translucent white. Normally, this is remedied by a little sunless tanning lotion. I'm not afraid to admit it - I use it. Only enough to give me a slight shade of non-blindingness. I'm not looking for the golden goddess look! The problem this year is that Drs typically don't encourage using it while preggo. It just hasn't been studied enough to see if there are any negative side effects for the baby. I plan to ask my Doc more about it at my next appt. I can't do the long pants thing until she comes, that is for sure! My dermatologist doesn't want me to ever "intentionally sun bathe". What's a girl to do?? Any out there heard differently about using the lotions?

Other than some wild weather extremes, we have been on the go non-stop it seems. There have been cook-outs with friends, playdates, house projects, and of course March Madness is upon us. (Did you know my 'Heels finished the season top in the ACC? And, will get a top seed for the NCAA tournament coming up. It has been a fun season to watch and we just pray we can hang on and win the 'big dance'.)

I'm officially in the 3rd trimester. Just 2 1/2 months to go (or so). Hannah is getting the hiccups and kicking up a storm. Jackson thinks my rippling belly is funny. Had my first Braxton Hicks the other day. Oh joy.

Hannah's room is a disaster. I'm sorting through years of boy clothes to get ready for the consignment sale. They are all sorted by season, then by size. Now I'm in the middle of the tagging. I'm anxious to purge these, and really need the money to go towards clothes and equipment for both kiddos this summer. Plus, it would be nice to unbury all the cute nursery stuff.

Our church threw a shower for my dear friend Anna yesterday. She and Tim, who is on staff at The Bridge, are about to leave on their 2nd trip to Russia, where they are adopting two precious little children - Ben and Paige. I am excited beyond words for them. Our church has been really supportive of their adoption process and I've been so touched by their generosity! Jackson has had some extra playtimes with soon-to-be big brother Ty while his parents get things ready. Today, as I took both boys up to the park, I listened in on a conversation they had about becoming big brothers. Something like this...

Jackson: My mommy has a baby in her belly. It's my baby sister. I'm going to be the big brother.

Ty: Hey, I'm going to be a big brother too. I have a sister named Paige and a brother named Ben.

Jackson: I have a new big boy room and we painted the other room for my sister Hannah.

Ty: Hey, I have a new room. My sister's room is pink.

Jackson: I'm going to be mommy's helper with the baby. Then, I will teach her how to play ballyball. [a new word he made up for playing all sorts of games with balls]

Ty: Hey, I can teach them how to kick a soccer ball.

So precious! Oh, how I wish I had a recording of that! I was so proud of them both. Their 'conversations' usually only include pirate talk, race car talk, and just silly noises.